A fun little goal exercise

Today let’s do a fun little goal exercise. I’m not sure about you, but my art skills are about on par with my first grader, so don’t judge me. This exercise will take you about five minutes. Grab a piece of paper and a pen.

1a. First, I want you to draw you on the left side of the paper. This is you right now. Think about where you stand right now in terms of ONE area in life. Draw yourself accordingly. So, if you’re thinking about you as a mom, you might draw yourself in yoga pants with a worried wrinkle on your forehead. If you’re overweight, you might draw yourself with a cupcake. I mean, have a little fun with it. Where do you stand right now?

1b. Right underneath of your beautiful self-portrait, draw 3 to 5 bullet points. Write out where you stand (for clarity, I know your art says it all). For your weight, it might say no energy, overweight, clothes don’t fit. For finances it might say in debt, paycheck to paycheck and worried about Christmas. For parenting maybe she’s yelling at the kids, always late and doesn’t feel like she gets in quality time. You get the point.

2a. Next, I want you to take your pen to the right side of the page. Think about where you want to be in this area of your life. How do you want to feel, be, look, act? What is the goal? What’s the ideal you look like in this area of your life? Maybe her smile is bigger and her worry wrinkle is gone. Maybe she has muscles, maybe she has a full heart.

2b. Just like you did with current you, future you needs 3 to 5 bullet points. Get really specific on what future you has, is, does, feels with your bullet points. Back to our earlier example, maybe she is at an ideal weight, everything in her closet fits and she has more energy these days. For finances, maybe she is on a budget, saving money and has a plan for Christmas. For parenting, maybe she’s speaking positivity, she’s got a schedule written out and she has a playdate with her kids once a week where they play games and eat popcorn.

3. The final part is that empty space in the middle. Draw a big box and again, give yourself 3 to 5 bullet points. Here, you can take the time to identify what is stopping you RIGHT now from getting to that ideal self, that version of you who is and feels and does things the way you desire. Your big box will show you exactly what’s standing in your way. For example, it might be eating out, not exercising and drinking too much wine. Or it might be not having a budget or shopping because you’re sad. In parenting example, maybe it’s because she is overbooked or she doesn’t have a routine. Maybe she doesn’t even know how to enjoy time with her kids because other things are stressing her out.

Self-awareness is the biggest and most important step to achieving the life we want and the goals we desire. So, first you have to get clear on where you are now. Own it. Don’t run away from it. Be present with your feelings and your thoughts. Next, you need to get really clear on what exactly you want. If you don’t it’s like hopping in a taxi and not telling them where you want to go. You’re just driving around wasting time and energy. Once you do know exactly what you want, it gets really exciting. Vision and progress and goals are human happiness factors.

But you also have to get super clear on what’s blocking you. That box in the middle is like the things they break through in football to run out on the field. It’s like a hurdle you have to jump over to get to what you want. It’s like a wall you have to climb over. Again, identifying it and being aware of what’s blocking us is a crucial step in actually achieving our desires.

Once you’re aware of all these things, you can journal about it. You can let your brain begin to solve those problems. This is the beginning and it’s a really fun little exercise. It’s also just where the work begins.

If you need help with this, with breaking through your box, I’m here for you. Schedule a session with me now!